For more than six hours on Saturday, Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger answered questions from Berkshire Hathaway Inc. shareholders, defending their business decisions and weighing in on everything from boardroom dynamics to how the company could spend its multibillion-dollar stockpile.

Once again, the annual May ritual that brings tens of thousands of shareholders to a corner of downtown Omaha, Neb., lived up to its reputation as the "Woodstock for capitalists." Hundreds of devoted shareholders lined up as...